TFA Season4: Adventures continued
by Super Metal Sonic
Summary: The Autobots have returned to Cybertron with the AllSpark and Megatron is in chains, but now Energon deposits have formed in Detroit. Optimus Prime and his team  return to Earth and face foes both new and old as the adventures continues.
1. The Trail of Megatron Pt1

_A fanfic series of what Season 4 of Transformers animated might have been like. While I got the idea to make this series a while ago, shortly after season 3 had ended, but after I had read the AllSpark Almanac Volume 2, which some of their ideas about season 4, I deceided to include some of info from book into the fic as well, to better try and make it fit what the real season 4 might have been like. _

_Thanks to Thunderstarwarp for beta reading the fic for any errors and corrections_

**The Trail of Megatron (part 1)**

Optimus entered the hallways of Metroplex, heading to the council chamber. It had been two deca-cycles since they had defeated Megatron, and already so much had happened since their return to Cybertron.

Prowl had been named a hero for his sacrifice to restore the AllSpark and had been honoured by the newly rebuilt Cyber-Ninja dojo. Sari decided to learn more about her Cybertronian origin and began to take lessons from Arcee. Megatron had been sent to Kaon along with the rest of his Decepticon followers and is currently awaiting trail.

Optimus soon entered the council chamber, the High Council members stood waiting for him as he walked down to the stand in the centre of the chamber.

"Optimus Prime," Alpha Trion spoke as he looked towards the Prime, "We have called you here to discuses matters of great importance."

Optimus nodded. Looking around, Optimus saw that Sentinel wasn't among the gathered council members, making him wonder what this was about that they didn't want the acting Magnus to be apart of.

"As you may know, Sentinel Prime has made demands for the Magnus Hammer to be handed over to him." Alpha Trion continued, "However, we of the council feel that our acting Magnus has not shown the same qualities as you have shown."

"Same qualities as Optimus? You must be mistaken if you think I'd be a loser like Optimus."

Optimus turned at the sound of Sentinel's voice. He had not seen Sentinel in a while, but he couldn't believe what he was seeing, yet from the looks of distain from the High Council, they've apparently seen this before.

Sentinel was wearing a imperial looking cape, two claps in the shape of the Autobot insignia attaching the cape to his shoulder pads and on his head, the blue Autobot was wearing an extravagant version of Ultra Magnus' helmet but with piping similar to Sentinel's own antenna pipes.

"Sentinel…" Alpha Trion said, trying to keep the anger out of his voice calm, "Once again, I must state the council's disapproval of your new chosen attire."

"Whatever, I'm the Magnus now and I'll dress as I fell like." Sentinel said, walking up along side Optimus, "So what brings you here Optimus? Finally came to return the Magnus hammer your medic stole."

Before Optimus could reply, Alpha Trion spoke up, "It is because of the Magnus hammer that we have called this meeting. Optimus. In recognition of you're efforts in and returning the AllSpark and defeating Megatron, the High Council has decided to award you the Magnus hammer."

"What!" Sentinel shouted, "You can't do that! The Magnus Hammer belongs to the Magnus, not some low class grease cleaner!"

"The Council's decision is final Sentinel." Alpha Trion said sternly as he narrowed his optics at Sentinel, "And I must remind you, that you are only acting Magnus while Ultra Magnus is recovering. And I, for one, am looking forward to the solar cycle when Ultra Magnus resumes his position."

"I'm afraid that won't be happening." a new voice joined. Turning their attention towards the new voice, everyone in the chamber watched as the head of the Medical guild, First Aid, entered.

"First Aid," Botanica was the first to speak, "what do you mean?"

"I've just come straight from Ultra Magnus' side at Cybertron Central Infirmary." First Aid said, "His condition has worsen and Ultra Magnus has fallen into emergency stasis lock. We've managed to stabilized him at the moment, but unless we do something soon, Ultra Magnus will go offline… permanently."

OOOOOOOOOOO

Megatron sat in his cell, staring at the dark. Ever since he had been brought in, it was all the Decepticon tyrant did. It had begun to make the guards nervous.

"Sir." the two guards said, seeing their commanding officer approach them.

"Anything to report?" the officer asked as he stopped in front of the cell,

"Nothing new to report, sir." one of the guards answered, "Just been staring into the corners of his cell as he has been since we stuck him in there." the officer stepped closer to the bars of the cell and looked in.

"Enjoying your stay, Megatron? Well enjoy it while you can, cause your trial begins next solar cycle, what do you say to that?"

Turning his head to look at the guards, Megatron narrowed his optics at them, yet remained silent. The officer glared back. Megatron sneered slightly, yet it was obscured by the grilled faceplate coving his mouth like a muzzle. After a few moments, the officer turned to leave, "Keep an optic on him. That trail is going ahead as planned." In his cell, Megatron leaned back against the wall, a grin on his face,

"Indeed it will."

OOOOOOOOOOO

"Give it back!"

Blackarachnia looked over at Waspinator. Since their arrival to wherever it is. The Decepticon femme had began to work on a way to get out of this place. So far, her latest attempt seemed to be a lot closer to working then her pervious attempts. Using a multisynaptic phase relay she took from Waspinator to make a signal beacon in hopes that someone will detect the signal and come to get her off this rock. The only problem was that now she had to endure Waspinator's complaining about wanting his leg back, it being built into the beacon.

"Look Bugface. I need the multisynaptic phase relay to get this beacon to work. If you didn't want to hop about on one leg, you shouldn't have had it connected to your leg."

Waspinator narrowed his optics, but before he could say anything, the technorganic wasp heard the sound of rocket thrusters. Looking towards the source of the sound, the two soon spotted a shuttle coming in for a land.

"Hello there!" came the voice of the pilot called out using the ships' speakers, "I picked up you're signal beacon and I thought, maybe I could give you a hand… for a price."

Blackarachina's optics narrowed as she recognised the voice, "Swindle." she said with an irritated sigh, "Still, at least it'll get us out of here."

OOOOOOOOOOO

Optimus entered his quarters in a fowl mood, his thoughts kept returning to the council meeting. After First Aid had delivered his news about Ultra Magnus, Sentinel had immediately declared himself the new Magnus. Optimus knew that Sentinel was overly ambitious at times, but he would never had thought that the blue mech would be so coldsparked to care more about putting his career before the fact that a colleague of his is dying. Needless to say, the meeting soon erupted into much shouting and arguing and quickly came to an end there.

Optimus gave a sigh as he sat down. Today wasn't going as he thought it would. Turning his head, looked over at the corner of the room, where the Magnus Hammer rested. He still couldn't believe the council had giving ownership of the Stormbreaker hammer, the symbol of a Magnus' rank, to him. After awhile, Optimus stood up and headed for the door. He decided to go see how Sari was doing and see if it would help take his mind off of the events of today.

OOOOOOOOOOO

"What is it going to be this time?" Blackarachina asked, her arms crossed in front of her as she leaned against the wall. Swindle turned in is chair to faced the spider, his mouth already twisting into his usual businessman smile,

"Why Blackarachina, I'm shocked that you would think that I wouldn't be doing this out the kindness of my spark." Swindle said, "After all, I am taking you back to Detroit. You shouldn't be looking down at such an opportunity." Before Blackarachina could retort to Swindle's statement, a crash drew her attention to the back of the shuttle.

"This is mine! And this is mine and this as well. All this is mine!"

"No fair!" a identical voice said, "Just because you were made first, you get all this stuff. I want this stuff and I want the helmet with taller point."

Blackarachina looked at the two mechs. One was blue with bits of beige while the other was red with black, yet even with the different colours and the cone shaped helmets, there was no mistaking who they were.

"And where exactly did the Starscreams came from, may I ask?" the spider femme said.

"Them? Oh they're just a couple of clones. A while back, I happened to acquire some protoforms from a business transaction and then I got the idea of creating my own personal bodyguards. I had managed to get my servos on some of Starscream's CNA from two clones I encountered the same time I acquired this shuttle. Well after that, it was a simple matter of backtracking and figuring out how they were created then doing the process myself."

"I want it!" the red Starscream's statement to his brother clone drew Swindle and Blackarchina's attention again,

"NO! it's mine, all MINE!" the Blue Starscream answered back.

"Unfortunately…" Swindle continued, through clenched teeth, "they ended up being the most annoying parts of Starscream's personality. I've had to deal with Dirge's greed and Thrust's envy…."

"I want those, give me those!"

"NO! their MINE! All of them belong to me!"

"Hey! Those credits are mine," Swindle shouted over at the clones, "put those back now before I …" he quickly stopped talking as Blackarachnia pushed the arms dealer back into the chair, his optics focused on the pincer like spider leg inches away from his face.

"You better start giving me answers on what you want from me or I'll fill you more venom then a acid spitting insectiod."

"Okay, okay." Swindle said, waving his hands in surrender, "Look, a few solar cycles ago I happened across a fellow Decepticon, one of the Earth machines brought online by an AllSpark fragment. Seems he had the misfortune of crossing path with pair of organics with access to a space bridge and ended up left floating through space. Anyway, service to say, he gave me some info about Earth that earned him a free ride to a nearby inhabited planet and give me a new business opportunity, but I don't have the exact scientific skills required to take full adventure of it."

"And so you want me to help you." Blackarchina said, finally understand what Swindle wanted.

"Exactly, so what do you say, I help you in exchange of you helping me?"

The technorganic narrowed her optics, "What is this news that you learned?" she asked.

Swindle turned to her and smiled, "Oh, you will not believe it."

OOOOOOOOOOO

"Optimus!" Sari said, glad to see the fire truck bot again.

"Hello Sari," Optimus said, "how is your education going?"

"It's been alright," Sari answered, "I mean Arcee has been a great teacher and all, but some of the lessons can be boring sometimes, especially with Tutorbot doing the teaching."

As if on cue, the modified protocol bot Ratchet and Preceptor had made as a aid to Sari's lessons entered the room, "Pardon the interruption Sari, but a communication from your farther is waiting for you."

"A call from dad?" Sari's expression brighten at the news and hurried over to the communication panel, "Hold on a second, Optimus, I haven't heard from my dad in awhile, I gotta take this."

Optimus smiled and watched as the screen came to life and, after a brief amount of static, Professor Sumdac appeared.

"DAD!" Sari cheerfully said, seeing her farther.

"Oh Sari, it is good to see you again." Professor Sumdac said, "How are you doing? I've been so worried about you."

"Dad, relax." the technorganic girl smiled, "Everything has been fine, Ratchet's friend, Arcee, has been teaching about Cybertron and everything. What about you?" she asked, "How have things been back home?"

"Oh, things have been quiet lately," Sumdac said, "There had been a bit of trouble a week ago, involving a remaining AllSpark fragment and Powell's limo, but it has been taken care of, but what has really been keeping me busy lately has been the new discovery."

"New discovery?" Optimus asked, hearing Sumdac's statement. In answer to Optimus' question, Professor Sumdac lifted a metal box up in to view. Opening the box, Sumdac lifted a smell crystalline object out of the box. Optimus optics widened as he spotted the crystal.

"That's energon."

OOOOOOOOOOO

Detroit city dump had been very busy during the repairs to the city after the Autobot's final battle against the Decepticons. With the help of Wreak-Gar, Detroit was able to shift all the debris that littered the street, however, for the seeker femme known as Slipstream, she was interested in one particular item left behind among the junk and the rubble that had been moved here.

"Well, finally. I knew you had to be here some where with the rest of the trash, but you could had made it easier to find you." Slipstream said, shifting some of the trash off the remains of Starscream.

Looking down at the gray body, Slipstream reached down and slid open the cockpit canopy, revealing Starscream's empty spark chamber. Looking at the empty spark chamber for a moment, the female clone then produced an AllSpark fragment out of subspace, "It took me awhile to find a piece that the Autobots didn't take with them, but, as much as I hate to admit it, you're better needed online then dead." she then put the fragment into Starscream's spark chamber.

As soon as the shard was placed in the chamber, colour returned to Starscream's body as the formerly deceased Decepticon opened his optics.


	2. The Trail of Megatron Pt2

_AN: It's taken a while, what with work and other things getting the way, but the next update is finally done. Apologise and thanks to the people who have waite long for this update._

_Acidstorm's method of speech is based on Mordin Solus from the Mass effect game series._

_edit: slag it! the blasted uplosed system messed up the spacing format of the file. that should be the spacing fixed now._

**The Trial of Megatron (part 2)**

"This is indeed an unexpected circumstance." Alpha Trion said. As soon as he finished talking with Sari and her father, Optimus had immediately contacted the High Council, informing them about the discovery made on Earth.

"I agree," Botanica said, "but I believe the question we all want to know is how can such a thing happen?" At this Perceptor then spoke up, "It may be possible that the formation of energon deposits may be a result from energy released when the AllSpark was reformed."

"It doesn't matter how it formed!"

Optimus turned his head to Sentinel. The blue mech had been listening quietly since the beginning of the meeting, but now it seemed the self declared new Magnus had something on his mind to say,

"The fact remains that there's energon on the planet and we need to secure it before those organics contaminate it with their filthy slime."

"We have already discussed this, Sentinel." Alpha Trion said, "Your position as Magnus may grant you the right to be a part of council meetings, but you don't have any control of what the council decides, nor try and influence it using your dislike of organics." the old mech turned back to Optimus.

"There are still Decepticons who have not been captured yet. If they find out about this source of energon they may resume with their attacks with more ferocity."

"Therefore," Botanica continued, "It is important that we secure the energon deposits and make sure that they are well protected."

"Agreed." Perceptor nodded in agreement, "Sending a team to Earth is a logical course of action."Optimus watched as the other members of the High council gave various nods and mutters of agreements, although Sentinel seemed to agree reluctantly for some reason.

"Then it's agreed." Alpha Trion said, "Optimus Prime. Giving your experiences with Earth before, we would like you to take a team to Earth and secure the energon deposits. Gather more information about the deposits and make sure they're secured. Do you accept this mission?"

Optimus blinked in surprise slightly, amazed that the council were even considering him, but quickly regained his composure and answered,

"It will be an honour."

OOOOOOOOOOOO

Once he was finished with his call with Sari, Professor Sumdac exited the tower and headed for his car. He was glad to have seen Sari again. He had missed Sari since she had decided to go to Cybertron with the Autobots to learn about where she came from, but he was glad that she was happy.

While Sumdac thought about his daughter, high above him in the sky, a familiar shape soared through the sky.

OOOOOOOOOOOO

"Yes! Yes! Once again, the skies belong to me!" Starscream said as he jetted higher up into the sky.

"Urgh. You've only came back online for a few cycles and already I've had enough of your annoying voice." Slipstream said as she flew up alongside him. Starscream turned and looked at her before saying, "And while we're on the subject of my resurrection, yet again, I must ask the reason you brought me back online."

Slipscream crossed her arms for a moment and then answered, "As much as I think you're an aft head. I am forced to admit, I need help and you're the only one who can do it."

Starscream raised an optic ridge for a moment as he looked at his female clone, surprised at the fact Slipstream, despite all the times she argued and shown a dislike for Starscream, was now asking him for his help. It was something he didn't expect her to say, unless what she wanted was something important that only he could get for her,

"Very well then, lead the way."

OOOOOOOOOOOO

"Stand up Megatron, it's time." one of guards said as they opened the Decepticon leader's cell,

"It's time for your trial." Standing up, Megatron exited the cell and stood before the two guards. At once, the guards fastened the shackles around Megatron's wrists and began to escort the prisoner away,

"I hope you enjoyed your stay here, Megatron," one of the guards said, "because I'm sure once your trial is over, you won't be going anywhere ever again."

"We shall soon see." Megatron said, smirking behind his faceplate as he was led away.

OOOOOOOOOOOO

Optimus looked round as he stood in the grounds of the Cyber Ninja dojo. He had never seen the original dojo back when Yoketron was still online, but he was sure it must have been as impressive as the new dojo being built by Dai Atlas. As he walked through the training grounds into the main hall of the dojo, Optimus saw the mech he was looking for.

"Optimus," Jazz said, greeting the Prime as he approached, "good to see you man, how are things?"

"It's good to see you again as well, Jazz. As for how things are going well that's the reason I'm here." the two Autobots began to walk as they talked.

"Sounds heavy man, but I'm still not sure why you're here?" Jazz said after listening to what Optimus had to say. Jazz then stopped, looking at the statue that stood in front of them.

"He was a good friend." Optimus said after awhile as he looked at the statue made in dedication to Prowl, his armour placed upon the statue to complete the appearance and placed along side a statue of Yoketron,

"We all miss him a lot, not only as part of the team, but as a friend." Optimus turned to face Jazz and continued, "The High Council has asked me to take a team to Earth and I want you to come as part of the team." Jazz remained silent as he thought about what Optimus had asked him. Eventually the white ninja nodded,

"Okay, count me in." Jazz said.

OOOOOOOOOOOO

Alpha Trion looked round the council chamber, looking round at all the faces. It has been many stellar cycles since he had seen so many Autobots standing in attendance in the chamber, nor so many members of the High Council gathered in the same room, but yet this was no real surprise considering what they all came to see. At once the room fell silent as the doors opened and Megatron entered the chamber.

Alpha Trion leaned forward in his seat as the two Autotrooper guards led Megatron before the stand, it seemed almost like the last solar cycle when he had first heard of Megatron. He was the head of the Iacon's archives when the reports of a fighter in the gladiatorial rings had been earning a large following and held gatherings. It was there in Kaon, the city which Megatron came online and lived, he had challenged and defeated Megazarak, taking control of the Decepticons. Now here the Decepticon warlord stood before a court of Autobots in chains to face justice and his home city now nothing more than a prison of his like.

"Alright, let's get this started." Sentinel said, clearing his throat, "The trial of the Decepticon leader Megatron will begin now." The blue mech stood up to his full height and pointed dramatically at Megatron,

"After so many stellar cycles, your crimes of tyranny will finally be brought to the scales of justice and I, as the new Magnus, will ensure that you will pay for every injustice you have commit-"

"Perhaps we should actually **start **the trial now." Alpha Trion interrupted.

"Yes, spare me." Megatron agreed, "By the AllSpark, it's almost enough to make me wish Ultra Magnus was still functional.

"Sentinel glared for a moment before resuming, "Ahem, as I was **saying**. You're going away for a long time Megatron, along with the rest of the Decepticons… that I captured."

Alpha Trion shot Sentinel a disapproving glance at the blue mech at his insistence of always trying to put himself above others.

"Oh?" Megatron said, a sly grin forming on his mouth, "And would these be the same Decepticons who told me they were captured by the bounty hunter known as Lockdown, who then handed them over to you in exchange for their modifications." At this the court room began to fill with looked round the room, trying to hide any sign of being caught in anything, before he started banging his fist on his desk in an attempt to resume order.

"T-that's a lie!" he shouted, "Nothing but slanderous lies and deception in an attempt to besmirch my name."

Alpha Trion watched silently as Sentinel babbled on. He wasn't at all surprised at the claim that Sentinel had been dealing with Lockdown in regard with the captured Decepticons, he had always suspected that there was something the blue mech had been hiding. Looking towards Megatron, the old politician saw that the captured warlord smiled as he watched the Autobots, begin to question Sentinel's reputation.

"Enough!" Sentinel yelled at the top of his voice, "This trial will be brought to order now. The sooner we're done with this, the sooner we can begin sending a crew to investigate the energon situation on Earth."

"Sentinel." Alpha Trion said, shooting him a warning glare, "It would be wise not to mention such important information where anyone can hear it." He glanced over at Megatron and saw the mech raise an optic ridge in interest.

"Now Megatron," Alpha Trion said, "because of your crimes, you know there is no way you can walk out of this, but if you cooperate, we could possibly give you a lighter sentence."

"Spare me this mockery of justice rebuff." Megatron refuted, "You Autobots believe that your so called justice and virtues have triumphed, but no bars will hold back my Decepticons."

"Silence or you will be held in contempt of this court!" Sentinel snapped, "I have nothing but contempt for this court."

"I've heard enough," Sentinel said as he raised his voice to be heard, "Megatron, you are hereby sentenced to termination by spark g-force crushing."

At this, a roar roused up around the chamber and Alpha Trion wasn't surprised at all. Destruction of a spark by use of g-force crushing had not been used for a long time as the use of such methods had long since been considered too brutal to use. "Until your sentence is carried out," Sentinel said, ignoring the yells,

"You will return to your cell. Take him away!"As the Autotroopers led Megatron away, Alpha Trion couldn't help but feel unnerved as he looked into the grey mech's optics. The look in those crimson optics made the old mech feel as if the Decepticon leader had heard all that he wanted to hear.

OOOOOOOOOOOO

Optimus entered the apartment with slight unease in what he was about to do.

"Hey Optimus, what brings you back here so soon?" Sari asked, looking over from her seat next to Bumblebee.

"Actually, I came to speak to Bumblebee and Bulkhead." Optimus responded,

"What's up Bigbot?" Bumblebee asked, looking away from his game.

"Yeah Bossbot, what do you need?" Bulkhead added.

"As Sari may have told you, there's been a new situation on Earth. The High Council wants to me to form a new team to head to Earth."

"You're going back to Earth?" Sari said in amazement. Optimus nodded,

"Jazz has already agreed to be part of the new team and it would be good to have you two on the team again."

"You can count me in, Bigbot." Bumblebee said with his cocky grin and looked over to his green friend.

"Sorry guys, but I can't." Bulkhead said.

"What!"

"I could really use your help Bulkhead." Optimus said, "We all could."

The big mech looked down at his feet as he replied,

"I'm sorry guys, but I can't." the green mech gave a sigh, "I just got a message from back home. Attacks have gotten pretty rough. We may have beaten Megatron, but there are still Decepticons out there and they've been attacking a lot. The Energon farm I lived on has been under attack quite a lot recently and they need all the help they can get."

"So you're staying to help." Optimus said in understanding. Bulkhead gave a slow nod,

"I'm sorry, Bossbot."

"It's okay Bulkhead, I understand." Optimus said, placing a hand on the larger mech's shoulder and looked to Sari, "And what about you Sari? Do you want to come with us?"

Sari stayed quiet for a moment as she thought about it. Even though in the short time she's been on Cybertron, she missed seeing her dad in person, but there was still so much more about Cybertron she wanted to see and experience, as well as the chance to learn more about where she came from.

"I think I'll stay here. There's still so much more of Cybertron I want to see, besides, Someone has to stay and keep an eye on Bulkhead." Sari said with a smile. Optimus returned the smile and nodded.

"Well good luck, Sari, Bulkhead. Take care of yourselves." He then told Bumblebee where to meet the rest of the team later and left.

OOOOOOOOOOOO

Starscream watched as Slipstream walked ahead of him. Following his female clone had, to his surprise, led him back to the Nemesis.

"What are we doing here?" Starscream asked, his optics narrowing in annoyance, "Surely there's nothing left after Megatron had us use it as materials for the Lugnut Supremes."

Slipstream stopped and turned to face him,

"You can stop with the act, Starscream, We know what it is you had hidden within the walls of the ship."

Starscream's optics went wide. He was surprised that Slipstream had found out about it, but was more curious about her choice of words,

"We?" he asked.

Slipstream turned and led Starscream to the control room, where he saw another bot standing. At once he realised it was a clone he was looking at, but not one he had seen before. The Starscream before him was green in colouration and had an inquisitive look in his optics.

"So, Slipstream managed to bring you back. That's good. Chances of success increase considerably with your cooperation. Refusal… well, am sure I would have find a solution in time." the green Starscream said, the words being said in quick fast pace, as he approached the original,

"Where did you come from?" Starscream said, looking at the odd new clone.

"Ah yes. Expected response in encountering unknown clone. Created by Slipstream, wanted someone to boss round. Used protoform stolen from the ship before last battle against Autobots. I represent the aspect of your more… intellectual side."

"Can it, Acidstorm," Slipstream said, crossing her arms, "If you were as smart as you think you are, we wouldn't be needing his help in the first place."

Starscream crossed his own arms and looked at the two clones,

"So, you two brought me here, the question is why? Even though I believe I may already know the answer."

Slipscream walked up to the resurrected seeker till she stood in front of him, looking him right in the optics before answering him,

"We found out about your files. We know about the secret weapon you created and we want it." Starscream nodded in understanding. The weapon in question was his original last chance plan to use in destroying Megatron and assume leadership of the Decepticons before the whole getting decapitated and lost transwarpping through space incident, an anti-matter particle beam cannon, designed with enough power to destroy half a planet if used incorrectly. He had managed to make a prototype of it and hid it away for safe keeping before creating the clones.

"I must say I'm impressed," Starscream said after awhile, "those files were highly encrypted, especially the ones regarding the weapon, but you managed to get access to them. Yet you couldn't get past the defence systems I set up round it."

"Tried many things to gain access. "Acidstorm spoke up, "Password encryptions, voice synthesizers, even tried spark identification, but none worked, then it occurred to me. The security system was made by you, would have wanted to make it so that system would only recognise you, troublesome when an army of clones is around, but then clones are not completely you." Acidstorm paused to sniff, "Each one acts accordingly to a certain part of your personality and mind frame. Take me for example. Can think like you, can be as deceiving, lying and scheming as you, but mind and personality focus more on intellectual response and actions than you. System will only recognise brain patterns and the balanced personality of you, not even if all of us clones worked together could we fool the scanner into thinking we were you. Clever."

Starscream grinned at the compliment his green clone had given him and then turned his attention back to Slipstream,

"So this is the reason you brought me back online." he said, "You want the weapon for yourself, but you can't even reach it without me unlocking the gate first." Slipstream's face twisted into a scowl as she answered,

"I would have rather left you on the scrapheap, but with that weapon in our hands we could easily rule over Cybertron and any other planet. I am even willing to work with you if it means getting our hands on that power. So do you agree?"

Starscream turned and looked up at the Earth,

"I believe it's time we showed both this planet and the Autobots that they shouldn't be counting us out yet."

OOOOOOOOOOOO

The Autotroopers walked ahead of Megatron as they led him back to his cell.

"Heh, I bet it must burn you up." one of the Autotroopers said with a laugh, "To see your home city being turned into a prison for you and your lackeys. Bet you thought you'd be welcomed like a king when you came back to this city, but all you get is a cell."

"Oh, I must disagree." Megatron replied, a smirk on his face "I find the place to be rather… suitable."

Suddenly, Megatron broke free from his shackles and, before the two guards could react, lunged at the Autobots. Even with his body still partially damaged from his battle with Optimus Prime, Megatron was still far more powerful than the Autobots thought as he easily crushed the two guards' heads with his bare hands,

"Now then." Megatron said, picking up one of the guards' blasters and then turned to look at a nearby wall, "If I remember correctly. There should be a passageway hidden right about…here." pulling on unsuspecting pipe, a section of the wall opened before Megatron revealing a secret passageway which he then walked into. Megatron soon emerged in a room he quickly deduced was the security centre. Looking round, the Decepticon leader could only see one guard on duty and with a sinister smirk, quietly approached behind the unsuspecting Autobot, raising the blaster up to fire.

"Autobot fools." Megatron said, pushing the corpse out of the seat, "Did they truly think they could hold me for long. All the stellar cycles I lived in Kaon have let me know every inch of this city." Megatron sat down and began to work his way through the controls.

"Attention, my Decepticons." Megatron spoke, having turned on the speaker system, "The time for us to spend our existence behind these bars is over. Now, my brothers, now it is time to take Kaon for our own again!" with one final push of a button, Megatron cut all power to the at first, but steadily growing faster as the energy bars began to fade out, the Decepticon prisoners walked out of their cells.

"Halt!" a guard yelled, bringing his weapon up to fire, but before he could do anything else, the Autobot was quickly smashed headfirst into the ground by a large fist.

"Pathetic Autobots." Lugnut said, stomping on the guard for good measure, "None can stand in the way of the glorious Megatron!""Indeed, Lugnut," Shockwave said as he walked up, followed by Blitzwing,

"Now that we are free, perhaps we should do as Megatron commands and take control of Kaon."

"Yes!" Blitzwing said in his hotheaded personality,

"We'll crush all the Autobots! We'll not leave a single one left online!" the triple changer then shifted to Random,

"Oooh! And then we can use their heads for coffee mugs. HAHAHAHAHA!" the crazed Decepticon laughed as the Decepticons began to over power the guards.

OOOOOOOOOOOO

Ratchet looked up from his work and smiled as he saw Optimus approaching.

"Prime, it's good to see again." the medic said, shaking his former commander's hand in greeting, "How have you been doing kid?"

"It's good to see you too, Ratchet." Optimus said, returning Ratchet's smile, "but I'm afraid I'm not here on a social call." but before Optimus could continue, he was cut off by a shout,

"Optimus!" turning round, Optimus and Ratchet saw Sentinel storming up to the two,

"What are you doing here? You have no clearance to come in here." Optimus looked at Sentinel sternly before replying,

"Perceptor let me in, as part of the High Council's mission. I want Ratchet on the team to Earth."

"Forget it! He's part of my special project team. No way I'm letting you have him for your waste of a mission!"

"Now wait just one cycle." Ratchet said, "What is this all about?"

Before Optimus or Sentinel could answer, the three Autobots were interrupted by someone calling Sentinel's name. Turning round, they saw an Autotrooper hurrying towards them.

"Sentinel! We've just received an emergency transmission! There's been a massive breakout. The Decepticons are on the loose. W-we lost contact with Kaon."

OOOOOOOOOOOO

Punch had been sorting through the store room, making sure all the weapons and modifications were still there, when Megatron had made his broadcast. Punch stayed behind to guard the storage room while the other guards went off to try and stop the Decepticons, yet it soon became apparent to him that the others were no that the Decepticons would soon be reaching where he was, the lone Autobot quickly looked for some way to get him out of this situation. And he soon found it.

OOOOOOOOOOOO

Blackarachnia looked at the fragment of Energon before her. At first she had thought that Swindle was joking when he had told her that Energon deposits were forming on Earth, but now that she was back on Earth and had examined it herself, the techno-organic spider was now certain in what she was seeing.

"Well, Blackarachnia?" the femme turned round and looked over at the Decepticon arms dealer, "Isn't it just as I told you? This is the Energon bonanza!" Swindle continued as he walked over to her.

"I must admit, Swindle, you were right." Blackarachnia said, "This Energon is of the highest quality I have ever seen. It's almost as if it's unrefined raw Energon. And you say all this is a result from AllSpark energy?"

"Indeed it has," Swindle said with a grin, "a fraction of this deposit alone is enough to make the both of us richer than our wildest dreams."

Blackarachnia crossed her arms and looked at Swindle inquisitively, "So what are you needing me for?" she finally asked him, "You could gather all this energon and be adding it to your private account all by yourself, so why need my help?"

Swindle remained quiet for a moment, but then answered,

"That sample you just examined has only been partially refined, still unsuitable for any Cybertronian's needs." At that moment, Thrust, Dirge and Waspinator brought in another sample of Energon and what Blackarachnia recognised as an Energon cube processor, "But here's what happens when we try to refine the Energon fully."

Dirge placed the Energon into the processor and activated the machine. Blackarachnia watched as the Energon cube was created, the purple cube glowing once it was completed. Blackarachnia moved to walk over to take a closer look, but before she could take a step forward, Swindle held up an arm to stop her,

"Get back." He said to the three larger bots, "It's starting already."

Blackarachnia looked and sure enough the cube's colour began to shift wildly, its glow getting brighter with each passing second. Waspinator and the clones moved back along with Swindle and the Blackarachnia. A few seconds later the cube let out a blinding light and erupted in a powerful explosion. Once the smoke cleared, Blackarachnia looked at the crater left by the explosion, then turned to Swindle,

"So you can see what the problem is." the yellow con said.

"They're unstable." Blackarachnia simply answered.

"Yes, it's been like that with every attempt we tried in refining it, I can't make a profit on this Energon if I can't refine this stuff into something useable."

"It could be that there's still residual Allspark energy that created these Energon deposits that's affecting the Energon's atomic structure during the refinement process. With the right equipment, it could be possible to create a filtering system that would remove the AllSpark energy while keeping the Energon's high levels."

Swindle smiled,

"Well I'm glad to see that you can help with my problem after all. So do we have a deal?" he held out his hand to seal the deal. Blackarachnia looked the Decepticon arms dealer in the optic,

"What's in it for me?" she asked, crossing her arms in front of her chest,

"Apart from repaying the favour I did saving you?" Swindle retorted with a grin, "How about all the AllSpark energy you can have for your research in turning back to normal?"

Blackarachnia remained quiet for awhile, then finally answered,

"Alright, it's a deal."Swindle's smile grew bigger and he turned to leave followed by Dirge and Thrust. After awhile the spider femme looked over towards Waspinator and spoke,

"Did you find out anything?" she asked the wasp.

"Wazzpinator zzearched everywhere, but could not find Bumblebot or hizz friendzz."

"Then it's just as Swindle said," Blackarachnia said, pondering this new information.

"Wazzpinator wanted revenge on Bumblebot!" Waspinator growled aloud, mostly to himself then to the spider femme, "How Wazzpinator get revenge now?"

"Optimus will come back to this planet sooner or later, and with him, the other Autobots as well. Until then we'll continue to help Swindle and make him a lot of, as my old friend Sentinel once said, "Energony goodness"."

OOOOOOOOOOOO

The door buckled as Lugnut's fist hit it and fell to the ground. The hulking Decepticon narrowed his main optic as he stepped over the fallen door, it was all that blocked the Decepticons access to the room where their confiscated weapons and modifications are stored, but no longer.

"In Megatron's name, nothing will stand in the Decepticons' path! All hail Megatron!" Lugnut said as he looked round the storage room. Lugnut suddenly stopped in his tracks, he thought he heard something moving, coming from behind him. Turning round, fist raised ready to Decepticon flinched, raising his arms up to shield himself from Lugnut's attack, yet the attack didn't come. Lugnut lowered his fist and looked at the Decepticon. He stood to around Blitzwing's height, his body was mostly blue with black while his head was black with a blue faceplate and a black bit on his chin like a soul patch.

"Ah, you have come to help aid me in serving our glorious leader." The hulking mech said, not giving the new Decepticon's sudden appearance a second thought, "Come. We must inform Megatron at once that these modifications are ours."

"That won't be necessary, Lugnut." Megatron said, as he entered the room followed by Shockwave, "I am already and I see another of our Decepticon brothers is here as well" he added, noticing the bot with Lugnut, "Tell me, what is your name?"

"Pu- er I mean… Counterpunch." the Decepticon said, standing straight. He watched as Shockwave rummaged franticly through the modifications and weapons,

"It's not here!" the former spy said, "Thetransformation circuits I used to disguise myself are no where in this room."

"The Autobots must have taken the circuits away for research." Megatron said, "It is of no consequence. We are ready to begin the next step of our plan." he then pointed at Counterpunch, "You will go to the communication room and ensure that all communications with the rest of Cybertron are cut off."

Counterpunch nodded and left. After awhile the blue and black bot looked round to make sure no one was in sight before ducking into an empty room and gave out a sigh of relief.

"That was close, really close." Counterpunch said as his form began to shift and change, becoming smaller with a different appearance and orange included in his color scheme.

"Face it Punch, You are in one big heap of trouble with this one." The Autobot said to himself as he thought about what had happened. It had been a rush job and he wasn't the must skilled when it came to installing circuitry, but he managed to get them installed and working. For a moment, he was worried when Shockwave had noticed that his disguise circuits were gone, but fortunately Megatron cast it aside, regarding its disappearance due to it being an unusual modification.

"The Decepticons must have terminated all the other guards by now, which means I'm the only Autobot left. I don't stand a chance by myself, but maybe there's a way I can use this to help the Autobots." Punch said, transforming back to his Decepticon disguise,

"In the mean time. I best do as Megatron ordered and avoid suspicion." he resumed heading to the communication room, "Besides… I can send a message to the Elite Guard."

OOOOOOOOOOOO

"Sentinel, we need to act now." Optimus said. Sentinel remained still, staring at nothing. For a moment Optimus wondered if his former friend was even listening when the blue mech suddenly turned, heading for the door as he turned his comlink on, "Jetfire, Jetstorm, divert all none essential power to Fortress Maximus. I want the main cannon ready to fire at Kaon as soon as I get there."

"What?" Optimus and Ratchet both said in shock and alarm.

"Dang blast it, didn't you learn from last time?" Ratchet said, slamming his hand on to his work desk, "You can't go blasting that overgrown popgun at every single problem you encounter!"

"He's right Sentinel," Optimus added, "If you fire that, there's no telling how many Autobots will go offline that are still there, not to mention the innocent lives belonging to those that live in the surrounding areas."

Sentinel turned on the spot, his optics narrowed as he looked at Optimus, "Do you honestly think there are survivors? These are Decepticons! I am not going to risk the safety of Cybertron for the sake of saving a handful of bots that couldn't do their job!"

Optimus glared back at Sentinel, standing defiantly against him, "I'm not going to let you do that Sentinel."

"I am the new Magnus! You have no authority over me!"

"I don't care what it takes, I'm not going to let you fire that cannon." with that Optimus pushed past Sentinel and headed for the exit.

"Wait up kid, I'm coming with you." Ratchet said, following Optimus, "Oh, and just so you know Sentinel. You can consider this my resignation!" and with that he left as the door closed behind him.

As the two walked down the hallway, Optimus spoke up, smiling as he looked over to the old medic, "Thanks Ratchet. I'm glad to have you on board again."

"Glad to be on board again." Ratchet replied with a smile, "Truth be told, I'm glad to have gotten an excuse to get out of that glitch headed idiot's command and working with a real commander again."

As the two continued down the hallway, Optimus and Ratchet soon reached the exit of the complex when they spotted a red mech waiting for them.

"Optimus Prime?" the Red mech asked, straightening up. Optimus nodded.

"I'm Ironhide. I heard council has given you a special mission to Earth. Well my team is certainly out of commission and I'm looking to give the cons some pay back for that. So if you're looking for one more bot on the team count me in."

OOOOOOOOOOOO

Megatron walked down the hallway of Kaon, flanked by Shockwave and Lugnut.

"The Autobots will attack soon. Especially with that fool Sentinel leading them." Megatron said, "Have all the security systems prepared to repel any attacks. The Autobots must not interfere before I can set the next stage of my plan into motion."

"Do not worry my liege." Shockwave said, "Thanks to your information about all the secret passages, we have ensured that all entrances into the city are sealed. There is no way any Autobot will be anywhere within the limits of Kaon."

_If you only knew the truth Shockwave. _Counterpunch thought as he followed after the three. Having scrambled all transmissions coming into Kaon as Megatron had ordered him to do, yet he had also used that time as his chance to act. With access to Kaon's communication systems, Punch was able to patch his comlink into a secure comm frequency that only the Autobots should be able to receive, so he could relay any vital information to the Autobots.

"My liege," Lugnut spoke up, "I must now ask, how were you able to escape and enable this breakout, oh glorious Megatron."

"It was quite an easy task." Megatron replied, "All my stellar cycles of living in Kaon have allowed me to learn all its secrets." then, as if to prove a point, Megatron, pushed a panel on the wall they were passing, causing a doorway to open. "And of course, I had an ally on the outside to prepare for the next step in my plans."

Walking down the new hallway, the four transformers soon reached a large chamber. The first thing the four bots saw as they entered was a colossal device in the centre of the chamber, cables and wires connecting the chamber walls. An army of workers, which upon closer inspection were recognised as Reflector's hard light hologram clones, working on the device and directing orders to them was…

"Perceptor?" Counterpunch gasped, surprised to the see the head of the Autobot Ministry of Science working with the heard this and smirked as he glanced over at Counterpunch, "Not quite." he bot first thought to be Perceptor looked round and spotted Megatron.

"Ah Megaton. You've arrived on time. I trust I played my part well?" the bot said, reaching up with his right hand and pressed his shoulder. At once the bot's colours changed from red to black and blue to red. He then removed the spectacle-like lens he wore and replaced the rounded helmet he was wearing with a smaller, squared shaped helmet.

"Yes, Magnificus, you had done well impersonating your Autobot counterpart. The Autobots guarding this prison never once suspected that in those visits you made for "the High Council", you were really smuggling in tools for me to repair my wounds. As well as weakening my shackles." Megatron opened his hand, letting a screwdriver like tool drop to the ground.

"It was quite easy Lord Megatron." Magnificus said as he placed a monocle over his right optic and slid a faceplate over his mouth, "The real Perceptor is so busy with whatever his current project is that he's been locked away in his lab for solar cycles. I was able to gain access to all kinds of meetings to get political information. Such as the information you shared during your trial about the deal between Lockdown and Sentinel. I've already used it to further spread doubt among the Autobots about their new leader."

Megatron waved a hand in bored dismissal, "Enough with your preference of politics. What is the status of the Mega Spacebridge?"

"It's almost complete, Megatron. I've set the Spacebridge Nexus to channel a large amount of Transwarp energy to the Mega Spacebridge within the next Megacycle."

"This is a Spacebridge?" Shockwave said in amazement, looking up at the device.

"Yes." Megatron responded, "And it has been built for a very special purpose in mind."

"What purpose is that?" Counterpunch asked. Megatron turned to face Counterpunch and smirked.

OOOOOOOOOOOO

Jetfire and Jetstorm looked up as the doors opened and Optimus and Ratchet burst into the control room, followed by Alpha Trion.

"Sentinel!" Alpha Trion shouted as he stormed up to the large chinned mech, "Have you lost your mind? You will not fire that cannon at a section of Cybertron!"

Sentinel glared at the three mechs, "So you're sticking your olfactory sensors into my business again and now you've gotten the council involved, Well forget it! I'll do whatever it takes if it means saving Cybertron from the enemy."

Alpha Trion glared back, "I told you before. I will never let you get that chance. Now tell your men to stand down and turn off the cannon."

"Never.""Sentinel Magnus sir. We are receiving a transmission from within Kaon." Jetfire called out, "What should we do?"

"Forget it!" Sentinel snapped at the orange and white mech, "Fire the main cannon now!"

"Wait!" Optimus yelled, "That might be from survivors. Answer it."

"Ignore it!"

"Answer it."

Jetfire looked back and forth at Optimus and Sentinel, unsure which order to follow. While Sentinel was Magnus and his commanding officer, Optimus was still above him in rank and therefore able to give him orders as well. Before Jetfire could make any sort of decision, Alpha Trion pushed the orange and white twin aside as he headed towards the control panel and pressed the button to answer the transmission.

{This is Kaon prison guard C-111 calling the Elite Guard, come in Elite Guard. The Decepticons have completely overrun Kaon, all other guards are terminated. I don't know how long I have before I am caught, but this information must get to you. Megatron is planning something big. He has a spacebridge built into the foundation of Kaon. You have to stop him before he takes his army off Cybertron. His destination is… *Krisshh*} The transmission suddenly ended in static as an emergency siren filled the air and a new transmission came in.

{Sentinel Magnus sir. The Spacebridge Nexus is overloading! A large build up of transwarp energy is heading towards Kaon. We can't stop it!}

OOOOOOOOOOOO

"Lord Megatron, the transwarp energy is on its way." Magnificus reported to the Decepticon warlord.

"Yes! Then it is time for us to take our leave and we shall be taking Kaon with us." At this, Megatron walked over towards a large and ancient looking switch built into the chamber wall and pulled it. The ground began to tremble and the air filled with rocket fire.

"My liege! What is happening?" Lugnut asked Megatron, trying to keep his balance.

"One of this city's greatest secrets." Megatron replied, "Kaon was built with an emergency evacuation system. It was planned for certain cities to break off of Cybertron and be ejected into space in order for the citizens to escape the conflict of the Second Cybertronian War. While the plan never came to fruition, construction of the engines had already been complete. I have activated Kaon's evacuation protocol. Kaon is now breaking off from Cybertron, where it will become our new base of operations… on Earth."

OOOOOOOOOOOO

Optimus rushed out of Fortress Maximus, followed by the others, looking towards the direction of Kaon.

Even with the distance of how far away Kaon is, Optimus was still able to see the city rising into the air like a dark predatory bird. Before the Autobots could do or say anything. A large surge of transwarp energy shot up into the sky and at Kaon, filling the sky with a blinding light. Once the light faded and Optimus could see again, Kaon was no longer in the sky.

"Great! They're gone and we don't know where they are!" Sentinel shouted angrily.

Optimus ignored Sentinel's outburst and slowly walked away, Ratchet followed him after awhile.

"I'll bring them back. I know where they're heading." Optimus said. He wasn't sure how, but in his spark he knew where Megatron was going, "Myteam will stop them."

OOOOOOOOOOOO

It was a normal day for the people of Detroit, yet many of them missed the excitement of seeing the amazing beings known as the Autobots, the children in particular. Even the tough nosed police Captain Fanzone, who was well known for his hatred of machines, was starting to miss them as well, along with the help the Autobots provided in dealing with crime and other emergencies.

Suddenly, a sound like distant thunder caused the people of Detroit to look up at the sky. Blue lightning danced across the sky, gathering at one point. The people watched as this mysterious ball of lightning hung in the sky above Lake Erie when, with a thunderous roar, the lightning struck down into the lake. As the lightning died down, the city of Kaon now stood there.

OOOOOOOOOOOO

A smirk grew on the edge of Megatron's mouth as he stepped out onto the surface of Earth once again and, with a gesture, pointed towards Detroit.

"Now my Decepticons," he said "this city, the planet and its Energon will belong to us and then the rest of the universe and Cybertron itself!"

to be conluded


End file.
